Memorial Day Weekend

We drove up to Oroville to celebrate Memorial Day with Than's family. It was quite the packed house with Shauna's family all packed in there, too, but it was tons of fun. Everyone kept saying how loud the house was, but what did you expect with 9 kids running around? I actually thought it went as well, if not better than was expected. The kids played, we played, Than swam the dam twice for his training, we had breakfast with dave and lenore, we had plenty of hot tub and pool time (well, the kids went in...it was freezing!), we barbecued, we watched Modern Family (Shauna had never seen it! If you haven't seen it...go watch it!), we ate some more, we chatted some more, Becky is the new Relief Society President in the Oroville 1st ward, I played horribly at Nertz and lost at corn hole too...it was not my weekend for games. It was just an all around fun weekend. Here are the loads of pictures to show all of our fun.

Hot Tub Time!

Pool Time! It was actually hot tub (get hot), pool (cool down), hot tub (get hot), pool (cool down) for most of the morning.

And seriously Scotty is so athletic. I wish he would focus for sports. Look how high he jumps without even really trying. I thought I had plenty of room and never thought his head would go out of the frame.

Dinnertime was a little tight but Gentry wanted to be a part of the group!

Daisy was absolutely OBSESSED with the dogs. This is her showing me her 'trick' of getting Riley to come and lay by her and pet her. She was so sweet.

The two babies. They're 7 months apart and didn't have that much to do with each other except when it came to unloading the DVD's. They're both on the same page about that.

Sunday morning coloring session.

Shauna doing her thing. The kids had a movie party one night and ate more candy than on Halloween. That's how you roll with Shauna around!

I took the kids out to the school to release some energy and give them some more room to run around. It was crazy windy, but we had a blast swinging and running and sliding and jumping. Their imaginations were coming out and I loved watching that.

Could be one of my favorite pictures. I'm so glad I tote my camera with me wherever I go to catch little candid moments like this.

With 7 granddaughters, there's going to be a lot of hand holding!

I'm telling you...the kid could be a great athlete!

Than had the great idea of heading up to the cemetery just up the road from his house to show the kids the flags and try to teach them why we have this holiday. It was pretty awesome to see all of the people who fought for our country from our little town. All three of my grandpas fought in a war and it made me think of them and what wonderful and honorable men they were (and are!). We had a funny moment when we were talking to the kids about the resurrection and there was a bench to remember someone and we were saying how everyone will be resurrected someday and Scotty said, "Well then they're going to have to change that sign to say 'Hey people! I'm back!" It was a much needed pick me up for me because I was getting sad thinking about my mom. And we had visited Sydnee's grave. I had never been there before and it just got to me. The Avila's are good friends of the Hancock's and they have had two children die. One, a boy named Jacob, at only one month old and a twelve year old girl named Sydnee. The knowledge of the plan of salvation and resurrection and eternal families is the only thing that could bring a little bit of peace to those broken hearts.

So, yes, happy happy weekend. Crowded, yes. But I can't wait to do it again!

It's friday....friday......

I am really glad that it is Friday! Than is finally back in town! Woohoo! He was here on Saturday, but has been gone for the two weeks surrounding it. Last night was a crazy way to end a week as a single parent. Get up....take Pacen to school....get everyone ready for preschool....do preschool carpool......visiting teaching.......stop by Summer's salon and head out take a break at starbucks (that was the fun part!).....pick up some cupcakes for Pacen's last math class.....preschool pick up......do lunch with the girls.....take cupcakes into Math.....go to swimming.....come home and shove food at my kids and lose my cool for a minute while Camry was trying to get dressed and she put on a dress that was too small and was freaking out about it and I lost all patience.......go to baseball for Pacen (he only has one more game!)......go to Open House......get home and feed my kids some oatmeal (who has oatmeal for dinner anyway?!!? It's always breakfast for dinner when Than is gone. We had biscuits and gravy for dinner last night and it was delicious!) and then after vegging out for a few minutes, get my kids in bed and do the clean up routine. Luckily since we were gone most of the day, there was not much to clean up. Claira didn't want to go to bed and she came out looking all cute and said, "You sweep wip me for a wittle bit?" How can you resist that? So we snuggled for a bit and then Than came home! It's such a relief when he's home. I just think....ahhhh...I made it. I think the thing that got me through the day was Cari's peanut butter cup cookies. I am in need of a mini muffin pan for sure. And lets be honest....I watched waaayyyy too much TV while Than was gone. The Oprah last week extravaganza, Biggest Loser Finale, and the american Idol finale. Scotty??? REally???? Ugh. I was disappointed. Lauren was just too annoying though.

The great news of the weekend is that Shauna will be in Oroville! I told my kids that on Saturday my 'best' will be seeing shauna and her fam. Pacen said, "We're all going to be at Grammy's?" And I said, "Yeah." He says, "Well that is a lot of kids and a lot of parents." Pause. "And that will be a lot of tattle taling." Could be, Pacen. Could be. But hopefully it's mostly fun! Now I'm off to take Pacen to school. It's a short day! Yippee!

Cooking Class!

For my mother's day present, Than bought me an Asian cooking class at the Culinary Institute of America. He got Carrie to take the class with me and we had a great time. It was a little intimidating because it seemed like everyone knew what they were doing except for us, but with a little help from the Chef, we got the hang of things. It wasn't as much instruction as I thought it would be. It was a little background on the different flavors of Asia, then we chose our recipes and got to work. Chef would come over and help us when we were stuck and confused and at first I think he thought I was annoying, but I think he liked me in the end. The most amazing part was just working in those facilities. I've never been in a 'real' kitchen like that before. The stoves and ovens and utensils were all incredible and waaayyyy more complicated and hot than I was used to.

The CIA is in Napa Valley and it was BEAUTIFUL there.

Ahhhh, California. And I don't think I've ever seen an artichoke growing before. I can't see an artichoke without thinking about Loren's talk he gave at my mom's funeral. My mom is an artichoke....many wonderful layers with a big heart.

Us and all our kids!

Than and Cache took the kids around for the day. It was about a 5 hour class and Napa isn't exactly kid friendly. But they found the parks and a restaurant to eat to kill the time. Camry was so excited about the geyser that they saw. She told me about it at least four times.

In the class....

Making Pad Thai....

I don't think he trusted me with the actual making of the dish. I didn't trust myself either....those stoves are HOT! After he was finished throwing it all around I said, "Hey! Look what I did!" And then he laughed. There always has to be a class clown.

I'm so glad Carrie did the class with me! I would have been way too intimidated to do it by myself. We were a good team!

This is why we cook....

Papaya Salad, Pad Thai, and Tom Ka Gai

All of the food was so good. My favorite thing was the Tom Ka Gai. It's one of our favorite soups and it was soooooo good and now I can make it just as good as the restaurants! The secret is lemon grass and fish sauce. Don't be afraid...it sounds so disgusting but makes all the difference....go and buy some.

And of course my kids were happy to see me when we were done. Claira can just make the funniest faces. And this is how her hair looks many afternoons after she's pulled out her hair. Argh!

Thanks, babe, for the awesome present!